Germany and France weaken EU sanctions package against Belarus

Germany and several other exporter countries, notably France, have succeeded in weakening planned EU sanctions against Belarus that were adopted at ambassador level on 26 June.

Source: the news agency DPA with reference to diplomatic sources in Brussels, as reported by European Pravda

Details: During the negotiations on 26 June, upon Berlin’s insistence, no agreement was reached on a general EU vehicle export ban. In the future, only vehicles which could be used for military purposes will be prohibited from being exported to Belarus.

According to DPA, France also supported the demands for weaker sanctions against Belarus. Exceptions must be made for luxury items such as leather goods, perfume and wine.

Central and Eastern European countries, specifically Poland and the Baltic states, have been insisting that the same economic sanctions should be imposed on both Russia and Belarus.

The reason – in addition to Belarus’ support for Russian aggression against Ukraine – is that Russia and Belarus are in a customs union, within which goods can be freely transported from one country to the other.

Opponents of harsher sanctions, however, argued that so far Belarus has not participated in the war directly, so it should not receive the same treatment as Russia.

The EU ambassadors adopted the new sanctions package against Belarus on 26 June. It will come into force after being approved by a written procedure in the Council of the European Union.

Shortly before that, the Council of the EU adopted the 14th package of economic and individual restrictive measures against Russia, which included sanctions against Russian LNG for the first time since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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